We previously showed that the 5A peptide can promote cholesterol efflux by the ABCA1 transporter and reduce atherosclerosis in animal models. The peptide was licensed to KineMed Inc, who received a RAID grant for performing preclinical studies. We have completed several studies looking at the optimum formulation of 5A. We reconstituted the peptide with a variety of phospholipids at various ratios. We found that when 5A is associated with sphingomyelin that it facilitates cholesterol efflux by ABCA1 and has other favorable PK/PD characteristics in mice. Pre-clinical toxicology studies should begin soon and depending a successful outcome of the toxicology studies will be followed by a Phase I clinical trial at the NIH. In addition, we have performed additional structure-function studies on the 5A peptide for producing modified peptides with improved cholesterol efflux and other beneficial properties.